RStudio

CATS runs an Rstudio Pro/Shiny server for class and student use in the Sciences at rstudio.smith.edu

For Faculty:

Student Accounts:
If you are interested in using RStudio for your class, contact CATS. We will need a list of your students’ Smith email addresses in order to build them accounts. If you have Five College students, they will not be able to use the server until they are assigned a Smith address.

Usage:
Because this server is primarily intended to support classroom use and sees a significant amount of activity throughout the semester, it should NOT be used for running resource-intensive individual projects. If this is something you or a student needs, please come speak to us about alternatives.

Packages:
We prefer not to add packages to the server while classes are in session, so if possible please let us know what your anticipated needs are before the start of the semester. If we have to add a package during the semester it may take a day or two until we can find a relatively quiet window to run the install, as the rstudio server is heavily used. However, having us install a package globally is vastly preferable to having students try to each individually install the package themselves as that tends to grind the server to a dead halt, so we request that you do not do that. If in doubt, talk to us.

For Students:

Troubleshooting:
If you are part of a class, your professor should have passed your name to us. If they confirm that they have, and you are still having difficulty logging in, please contact CATS and let us know whose class you are in and what problems/errors you are experiencing. Occasionally there are configuration issues with Smith accounts that conflict with the server and need to be fixed by us.

Getting an Account if You’re Not In A Class:
Generally we are happy to provide accounts for Smith students to use the server, with the caveat that, as above, the primary mission of this server is to support classroom activity and should not be used for resource-intensive individual projects. Again, contact CATS for more info.